Improvement in brake-shoes for cars



W. OONNBR & A.O.DBN10."

Brake-Shoefor Gars.

Pate`nted June 3,1879.

FIGLI.

Fl-a5.

NFETERS, PHoTo-LTHOGRAPMsR, wASHxNGTcN D l:A

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.`

WILLIAM OONNER AND `ASA O. DENIO, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BRAKE-SHOES FOR CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 216,152, dated June 3, 1879; application filed April 23, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM OONNER and ASA O. DEMO, both of iVilmington, Delaware, haveinvented a new and useful lmprovement in BrakeShoes for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in the construction of brake blocks and shoes for railway-cars; and consists of the combination of a block and a quadrangular socket in the same with a shoe having a central 'tenon adapted to but having a slightplay in all directions in the socket, all substantially as described hereinafter, so that the shoe may be'entirely dependent for its position on said socket and tenon, and so as to insure simplicity in construction, a ready removal, replacing, or re versal of the shoe, and the selfaccommodation of the latter to the wheel.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical section oi' our improved brake block and shoe, showing their relation to a carAwheel; Fig. 2, a sectional plan on the line 1 2; Fig. 3, an exterior view of the block and shoe, partly in section; Fig. 4, a sectional plan of Fig. 3 5

and Fig. 5, a rear view of the shoe.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A represents the brakebeam; B, the brake-block or bracket, and D the shoe.

We prefer to arrange the brake-beam in the manner shown in Fig. l in respect to the center m of the wheel and to the top m of the rail, the wheel being thirty inches in diameter at the rim in the present instance.

We also prefer to so arrange the shoe that its center w shall be below a horizontal line, y, drawn through the center of the wheel. This relation of the several parts to each other has been determined by practical tests to be the most satisfactory.

The brake-block or bracket consists, mainly, of the 'recessed socket a and the upper and lower anges, d and c, between which the brake-beam is tted and secured by a bolt, fv.

The recess in the socket a of the block is of quadrangular form. It may, for instance, be square; but we prefer to make itoblong, as shown.

The tenonf of the shoe, Fig. 5, should be of the same form as the recess in the socket, but slightly less than the same, so that the shoe may have a slight play in every direction in the socket of the block. The top and bottom ofthe tenon should also be parallel, or nearly so, with a radial line, n n, drawn through the center of the tenon and through the center of a circle of which the face of the brake-shoe represents a segment, that center being the center .r of the wheel when the brake-shoe is applied to it, as shown in Fig. l. By adopting this rule we are enabled to reverse the brake-shoe when the wearing away of one part of the face more than another suggests such reversal.

In order to carry out the above arrangement of parts it will be seen that the recess of the socket must be at an angle in respect to the iianges (I and c of the block where they are iitted to the brake-beam.

Should the center of the brake-beam be in the horizontal line y, the recess of the socket may be parallel with the flanges d and e; but we prefer the arrangement shown and de scribed of the brake-beam, brake-block, and shoe to each other and to the wheel.

rlhe position of the shoe on the block 1s dependent entirely on the central tenonof the former and the recess in the socket of the latter, and in this respect our invention dii'ers materially from many of the plans heretofore adopted.

In the patentof Stevens, for instance, No. 23,722, April 19, 1859, there is a detachable and reversible shoe secured to the block at or about the points indicated by the dotted lines p p, the shoe being as rigid a part of the block as though the whole was cast in one piece, and the same plan has been adopted in more recent patents.

It will be seen that our improved brake block and shoe are simple in construction and can be economically manufactured.

The tenon and recess resist all the strain to which the shoe is subject, when in contact with the wheel, quite as effectually as if the shoe was rigidly secured to the block. At the same time the slight play of the tenon in the recess permitsthe sheet-o accommodate itself circumferentially to the periphery of the wheel.

It is important, moreover, that the shoe should be at liberty to move or turn laterally to a limited extent, and this it can do, owing to the slight play of the tenon in the socket, the shape of the tenon and recess in the socket preventing undue torsional displacement.

It' the 'shoe is properly made, and is free from the block at all other points excepting the center, a very slight play at this point gives the shoe, unconfined at its upper and lower ends, sufficient liberty.

In Fig. l We have shown by dotted lines, and in Fig. 3 by plain lines, light ribs k, which serve the twofold purpose of strengthening the socket and of restricting the movement of the shoe when drawn away from the wheel; but

,Y these ribs are not essential to our invention.

Should a retainer be desired, We make semicircular recess, f', on each side of the tenon and a similar recess on one side of the socket, the latter recess communicating With holes in tlletop and bottom of the socket, so that a pin, j, may be passed through the said holes and serve to retain the tenon of the shoe looselT in place, the same pin serving as a retainer when the shoe is reversed. By this arrangement `boring of holes in the tenon is obviated.

We claim as our inventionl. The combination of the brake-block B, having a quadrangular socket, with the shoe D, having a central tenon conforming With but having a limited play in the socket, and depending solely on the same for its vertical and lateral position, all as set forth.

2. The combination of the shoe and its tennon, having the semicircnlar recess in each side of the said tenon, with the block D, llaving a socket With semicircular recess on one side communicating with holes in the socket, all as set forth.

In testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

WILLIAM CONNER. ASA O. DENIO. l/Vitnesses H. HoWsoN, JAMEs BARKLEY. 

